Enough Sleep, Lower Blood Pressure
Are you struggling with high blood pressure? If yes, it could be too much or too little sleep!
Recent research at the Boston University School of Medicine found that people who were sleeping above or below the recommended hours of daily sleep have an increased risk for hypertension.
Dr. Daniel Gottlieb, MD, MPH studied the responses of 2,813 men and 3,097 women, aged 40 to 100 years, to a questionnaire on sleep habits. He discovered that, compared to people sleeping between 7 and 8 hours per night, those sleeping less than 6 and between 6 and 7 hours per night, as well as those sleeping between 8 and 9 and 9 or more hours per night, had an increased prevalence of hypertension.
Gottlieb wrote "It suggests that adequate total sleep duration should be tested as a non-pharmacologic treatment modality in the management of patients with hypertension." Translated, that means that getting the right amount of sleep can be a good adjunctive treatment to your blood pressure pills. How do you know how much sleep you need? Try this little experiment:
- Determine what time you need to wake up; that is, without using the snooze button, what is the absolute last time you can wake?
- Now count backwards in units of 90-100 minutes 5 times. So count backwards 400-500 minutes
- If you must wake by 7:00am, going back 500 minutes says you need to go to bed at 11:00. When you wake you should feel well rested, and hopefully your blood pressure will be as well!
Try this method. If your blood pressure is lower, post a comment letting me know!
Related Topics: WebMD Video: Salt Hormone: New Clue to High Blood Pressure Risk, Time to Wake Up about Sleep Problems
Technorati Tags: high blood pressure, hypertension, sleep
20 Comments:
I cannot fall asleep right away..go to bed by about 10:30 P.M. do crossword puzzles or read...like to sleep late in A.M. when I should wake up...I do have Hypertension last couple readings...had normal readings in 2005...please advise on what to do..
Joyce
sleep off an on, noise in my head all the time it wakes me in my sleep it gets soit wakes me up then i get up for awhile, then go back to sleep for a little bit , then wake up for the rest of the day. and sill the noise won't go away. i'm going the the doctor but for my back pain and kness and shoulders , hands i hurt all the time . my neck pops all the time , sometimes i get the bones to pop because the neck gets stuck i have to pop it and ofcourse it pops.
do you have any ideals on this .
Darlene
Read earlier about people sleepwalking while taking Ambien, cooking or typing on the Computer. That is one of it's wonderful serious side effects.
I have a friend, both of us have RSD and Fibromyalgia, and she was put on Ambien, and luckily her Mother was living there, as my friend wasn't able to work and had moved in with her sister as well. The home was huge and beautiful so there was room for all.
But she would be found by her Mother who would always wake up by any sound, and would find her, naked, in the kitchen, turning all four burners. If someone had left a pan of food on that stove and her Mother had not been there, the whole house could have gone up in flames.
I don't sleep well and have been on Dalmane for 12 years and last year my pain doc added Zanaflex 4 mg. to take one tab at bedtime. I am out before I finish taking all my meds so I have learned to save the Dalmane and Zanaflex until last.
I also had a PCP at a Medical Group that decided he didn't want me on the Valium nor the Dalmane anymore and cut my Valium and completely stopped the Dalmane so by day three I started going through withdrawals. I told him I had been on these meds for 12 years, the Valium for my severe muscle spasms and stress and the Dalmane for sleep.
He said one of Dalmane's side effects was memory loss. Well, the two pain syndromes I have cause that, and when I got my Ambien, I discovered, one of the first side effects listed was possible memory loss. When I confronted him with that, he gave me some lame excuse.
I am so tired of doctors who are Family Medicine, who know nothing about Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy nor Fibromyalgia nor the fact it took my excellent pain physicians at a major Los Angeles University Hospital, where I had worked, but then was on disability due to the RSD, find a combination of medications that seemed to work the best.
Doctors need to spend more than 15 minutes when taking a complicated patient's history to discover exactly all they have been through, all the procedures and then ask if the combo of meds they are on are working. I currently see a pain doc, who is fine with all the meds I am on.
Needless to say, I changed PCP's immediately and he has no problem with any of my meds.
But when prescribed any medication, particularly one you haven't taken before, READ THE SIDE EFFECTS. Ask your doctor to prescribe the smallest dose he can when first starting on it and wait a few days to see if you have any side effects.
I still have the full bottle of Ambien I had to pay almost $30 for because it is a tier II level drug, which I didn't know and the PCP who prescribed it didn't care about how much a prescription cost me in spite of me telling him I am on SDI and live on a fixed income. He just said "we all have money isues" and I am thinking, I have a lot more than he does.
So for those who suffer from a pain syndrome, please be careful with your new added drugs. Ask for a Pharmacy consult as I have learned over the years, they have more time to spend with you describing a drug side effect or interaction whereas, your doctor for the most part in an HMO, just gets you in and out.
It would be so nice to get another 3 to 4 more hours of sleep after a 12 hour shift...go to bed at 10 have to be up at 03h30 in the aft. to be ready to pick up the girls from school bus stop. I guess I can't complain about insomnia, I sleep like a baby when and wherever I can.
I had a terrible time with insomnia both falling asleep and waking up in the middle of the night, staying awake for an hour or longer. I tried natural herbs like Valerian root, and also tried acupuncture but they didn't help. I didn't want to start using drugs because I was afraid of becoming too dependent on them. My girlfriend loaned me a set of subliminal music CDs (the Ultimate Healer ones). I only listened to the first two in the series, and before the end of the first week was sleeping soundly for the first time in years. I play the Release and Relax before I go to bed every night and it works like a charm.
i dont really have a comment, just a question. i take ambien at night for my insomnia. what does ambien show up as in a drug screen? is it a narcotic, or does it show a positive for narcotics, or for a seditive?
I am a very poor sleeper. Because of my heart problems, I have been taking health food supplements. Any health food store or chiropratctor carries them for sleep and other ailments. They are safe and can be taken forever, if necessary, as they are made from food, not drugs. The supplement that I am on is Revitalizing Sleep Formula by PhytoPharmica. One wakes up refreshed, not groggy.
Saw Rosie O'Donnell on The View with a sleep apnea mask that looks greeat (the second one she had on, not the nose pillows). Please tell me who makes it so I can order one. Thanks.
I always feel sleepy and I notice that I sleep more often than usual. What should I do? Is something wrong with me? Please answer back, thanks.
For those of you who were interested in Rosie. She has 2 masks
1) The Swift by ResMed
2) The Comfort Lite II by Respironics.
Dr. Mike
I have been on Toprol XL 50mg 2x's a day for about 5yrs to control PVC's (premature ventricular contrations). I have never had a problem with my blood pressure until here recently. I had been having trouble falling asleep and then staying asleep. My PCP put me on Ativan 2mg. to help with that problem. It worked for about six months. The problem with lack of sleep has come back with a vengence!! I do not fall asleep before 6am (even if going to bed for 11pm) when I do fall asleep I will wake up anywhere btw 6 to 15 times a night. All before 10am when I am forced out of bed more tired than I started out being and really aggitated. I also noticed that I am waking up with a severe headache, could that be because of my blood pressure being up in the morning or maybe the sleep issues causing a rise in my blood pressure?
My mom has high blood pressure, and the past two days she's been sleeping. She'll only get up long enough to use the restroom, and she fell asleep with the stove on. is too much sleep bad? I'm worried. She says she's ok, but she just feels drowsey. Could it be the blood thinners? They recently doubled her dose. _concerned daughter-
Concerned daughter,
Please call her doctor right away and tell him your mother's symptoms. That sounds like something he should be aware of.
I hope your mother starts feeling better soon!
I am always tired which is usually accompanied with sleepyness. I can't seem to function properly during the days, my words seem to cross each other when I have to read. I'm usually in the bed around 10pm, but don't always go right to sleep. I'm tired of being tired and having no energy during the day. Vitamins don't really help. Troubled
Doctor increased my toprol to 50mg for my blood pressure 2 weeks ago. I am very tired so tired I started to go to bed at nite between 7 and 8pm. I get up around 5 every am without an alarm now I keep waking up 4 or more times a nite. I usually have a lot of energy but no more & I feel down.
I am akidney transplant patient,all I seemto to do during the day is sleep. I take blood pressure pills and alsoam anemic
my husband has heart problems and has trouble sleeping. He is curretly taking metoprolol,vytorin,omeprazole,plavix,isosorbide,lexaproand ultram. Is there side effects to keep him from taking ambien too help him sleep
I am taking .25mg of clonezapam to help me fall asleep at night. It works for about 4 hours and then I am awake the rest of the night with stuff just going thru my head. I have tried taking sleep medicines but I can't take them because I have muscle pain in my legs. What is wrong with me?
I Wake up just about every morning with headaches and Lower Blood pressure. My body aches and I'm in so much pain I stay in bed and sleep longer.. it drives me crazy and ruins my whole day! with two kids I can only thank my husband for dealing with me..
Ever sense I was pregnant with my son who just turn 1 in Feb, I haven't been sleep like I use to I go to bed about 3am and wake up all in pain and go back to bed and stay there til 11am or 12pm.
I have prolems falling asleep and staying asleep. Sometimes if I am asleep, I wake up with my hands and fingers hurting and stiff from tensing them up while asleep. Kinda like there is no oxygen getting to them. They will remain stiff and feel swollen all day. Does any one know of a sleep disorder where you tense your muscles constantly while sleeping? Thanks, Christy
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